Development of a Bubble-Population Correlation for Foam-Flow Modeling in Porous Media

Abstract

Summary This study shows a bubble-population correlation based on experimental observations and theoretical results obtained at the pore scale (micromodels, network modeling) and at the core scale (transient foam flow in homogeneous media). In this correlation, we express explicitly the evolution of the mobile bubble density (the foam texture that governs foam viscosity) as a function of the physical properties of the porous medium (porosity, permeability, and capillary pressure) and the evolution of the mobile gas saturation. This correlation has been rather easily implemented in a numerical simulator and the resulting set of data has been matched against results of transient experiments performed with unconsolidated porous medium under a computerized tomography (CT) scanner as well as experiments performed in another research institution with natural sandstone. The match of the experimental data and the correlation are good. The results have also been compared with a complete simulation that uses the population-balance model. The agreement is excellent between the two types of models. This simplified formulation allows decoupling the effect of the porous media parameters, such as porosity, permeability, and capillary pressure, from the effects caused by the surfactant. It conserves most of the benefits of the physics of foam flow as seen in the literature.